A protester holds a flare in Lille, France, as thousands of people from nations around Europe demonstrated against government austerity measures.

Photo: Philippe Huguen, AFP/Getty Images

A protester holds a flare in Lille, France, as thousands of people...

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Riot police charge during clashes with protestors in Lisbon during a general strike Wednesday, Nov. 14 2012. The second general strike in eight months in Portugal, where the government intends to intensify austerity measures next year, left commuters stranded as trains ground to a virtual halt and the Lisbon subway shut down. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Photo: Francisco Seco, Associated Press

Riot police charge during clashes with protestors in Lisbon during...

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Riot police officers face protesters during a demonstration outside the Portuguese Parliament in Lisbon during a general strike on November 14, 2012. General strikes in Spain and Portugal will spearhead the day of action called by European unions and joined by activists as anger over governments' tight-fisted policies boils over. TOPSHOTS/AFP PHOTO / PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRAPATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty Images

A protester holds a flare during a demonstration in Lisbon on November 14, 2012 during a general strike . General strikes in Spain and Portugal will spearhead the day of action called by European unions and joined by activists as anger over governments' tight-fisted policies boils over. AFP PHOTO / PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRAPATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty Images

Photo: Patricia De Melo Moreira, AFP/Getty Images

A protester holds a flare during a demonstration in Lisbon on...

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A police officer fires tear gas as police face demonstrators during a protest against Italian Government austerity measures in Turin, Italy, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. Workers across the European Union sought to present a united front against rampant unemployment and government spending cuts Wednesday with a string of strikes and demonstrations across the region. Protesters clashed with police in various demonstrations in Rome, Milan, Turin, Padua and Brescia. (AP Photo/Fabio Ferrari, Lapresse)

Demonstrators shout and wave flags as they march through Gran Via street during a general strike in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. Spain's General Workers' Union said the nationwide stoppage, the second this year, was being observed by nearly all workers in the automobile, energy, shipbuilding and constructions industries. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

Hundreds of thousands of Europe's beleaguered citizens went on strike or snarled the streets of several capitals Wednesday, at times clashing with riot police, as they demanded that governments stop cutting benefits and create more jobs.

Workers with jobs and without spoke of a "social emergency" crippling the world's largest economic bloc, a union of 27 nations and half a billion people. In Madrid and Barcelona, where the crisis is hitting particularly hard, protesters and police fought street battles resulting in dozens injured and numerous arrests.

The protests were met with tear gas in Italy and Spain, but were largely limited to the countries hardest hit by the austerity measures designed to bring government spending into line with revenues. Wealthier nations like Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark saw only small, sedate demonstrations.

To combat a three-year financial crisis over too much sovereign debt, governments across Europe have had to raise taxes and cut spending, pensions and benefits. As well as hitting workers' incomes and living standards, these measures have also led to a decline in economic output and a sharp increase in unemployment.

The zone of the 17 countries that use the euro currency is expected to fall into recession when official figures are released Thursday. Unemployment across those countries has reached a record 11.6 percent, with Spain and Greece seeing levels above 25 percent.

With no end in sight to Europe's economic hardship, workers were trying to take a stand on Wednesday.

By early evening, 118 people had been arrested across Spain and 74 people, including 43 police, injured.

In Italy, protests turned violent as well, with some of the tens of thousands of students and workers clashing with riot police in several cities. Dozens of demonstrators were detained and a handful of police were injured, according to Italian news reports.

In bailed-out Portugal, where the government intends to intensify austerity measures next year, the second general strike in eight months left commuters stranded as trains ground to a virtual halt and the Lisbon subway shut down. Some 200 flights to and from Portugal - about half the daily average - were canceled. Hospitals provided only minimum services and municipal trash was left uncollected.